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At The Links Group our staff play a major role in deciding which CSR initiatives we should support as a company. Education for all has always been a big focus of ours and our team helps us to identify schools in need both locally and abroad.

One initiative we have supported for several years now is the funding of a school in a southern rural village in the Philippines called Mayang Elementary School. Our executive driver Eric Alega, a former Mayang student, initially brought the school’s plight to our attention when he told us how its existence depended on donations alone. Eric and his family had been supporting the school for years and we felt compelled to send additional books, stationery and other school supplies.

Earlier this year, Eric showed our operations manager Helen Martin images of the school and the students. During one of our morning meetings, Helen brought up this topic and we all started thinking about how we could further support the school. Our client relationship executive Michelle King had a great idea of enlisting the help of some of our education clients.

Following the recent purchase of Dubai’s Star International School (SIS) by an investment company and the subsequent rebrand of the school, we were aware that new uniforms were going to be purchased. Rather than see the students’ old uniforms go to waste, Michelle suggested implementing a charity drive to collect these for the students of Mayang Elementary School.

In collaboration with SIS management, we collected the students’ old clothes, books and toys. The students and their families were extremely supportive and we managed to collect 12 super-sized boxes of items. We also worked with English College in Dubai to support this initiative who donated another three super-sized boxes of old uniforms.

Thanks to the team’s exceptional efforts, we shipped a total of 240kg of items to Mayang Elementary School which arrived the first week of August at the school. Our staff raised an AED4,000 for the school. New books and stationery were also contributed by our executive management.

We’ve been blown away by the emails and letters of thanks we have received from teachers and students alike. This has been quite a humbling and unifying experience for all at The Links Group, and we hope to expand on our efforts in the future.